This invention relates to the construction of pre-formed panels suitable for use, for example, in the fabrication of walls, floors, ceilings, roofs and the like in buildings.
There is a constant need for low-cost shelters that are easily and quickly erected, and that are formed from readily transportable materials. For instance, much of the world""s population is relatively poor, and many live in areas where natural resources are scarce. Accordingly, it would be desirable to develop low-cost shelter constructions which could be transported and erected at population centers throughout the world. The need for low-cost shelter construction is, of course, not limited to remote or foreign areas, but instead exists in various places in this country where low-cost housing is needed.
Flexible materials, such as canvas, can be utilized to create low-cost and easily erected dwellings. However, such materials typically do not provide adequate insulation for most climates. Also, many of the commonly utilized flexible materials, such as canvas and plastic sheets, rapidly degrade upon exposure to certain common environmental conditions, such as moisture and/or ultraviolet light.
Small, portable and relatively durable buildings have been designed and constructed in the past. Some of these buildings have been readily assembled from pre-formed panels. However, the building components for such constructions are frequently quite heavy and bulky and thereby cause storage and handling problems. Additionally, it is generally desired to provide plumbing and electrical conduits within building structures. Frequently it is time-consuming and difficult to provide such plumbing and electrical conduits in those buildings constructed from known types of pre-formed panels.
Prior art panels of the general type here under discussion have comprised a foamed material encapsulating a reinforcement which takes the form of a metal sheet, sometimes provided in corrugated or wavy form and sometimes provided with a multiplicity of openings through which the foamed material passes. Such constructions, by reason of the extent and location of those openings, lack optimum strength and also minimize the ability of the reinforcement to act as a foundation for the attachment of external elements to a given panel.
In addition, obtaining adequate sealing between adjacent panels is often difficult and, because metals are usually good transmitters of heat, panels containing metal parts are often deficient in heat insulative properties. Also, the side edges of the panels may be defined by portions of reduced thickness when compared with the remainder of the panel, thus permitting those portions of reduced thickness to overlap when the panels are assembled.
In accordance with the present invention, the panel includes an encapsulated strong reinforcement member, preferably but not necessarily of sheet metal, which is so shaped as to provide a plurality of sets of longitudinally extending segments which are spaced from one another both vertically and laterally, each segment being connected to the adjacent segments by generally vertical and preferably inclined segments, and optionally with one or more vertically extending walls at the side extremities of the reinforcement member. The first and second sets of segments are generally planar and extend generally horizontally. The vertically extending segments are also generally planar. The holes in the reinforcement member through which the foaming material may pass are relatively large and spaced substantially from one another. They are provided essentially only in the generally vertically extending segments and for all practical purposes not at all in the segments of the first and second sets, thereby to significantly increase the ultimate strength of the panel while at the same time effectively providing for communication of the encapsulating material between front and back of the reinforcement member, and facilitating the attachment of the panel to external elements by using attaching elements such as screws which pass through a given horizontal segment or a vertically extending wall if provided. Thus, the panels are totally load bearing and screw attachment is through generally flat fully load bearing surfaces, and attachment of or to external objects is readily accomplished without any deterioration in strength.
In addition, defective sealings between adjacent panels can be achieved by providing those panels, along their side edges, with overlapping parts including the foamed material. Moreover, when, as is preferred, the top or bottom edges of the panel are provided with metal caps, those caps do not extend the full width of the panel, thus producing gaps at the upper or lower corners of the panel. Those gaps are filled with heat insulating materials such as the foamed material used throughout the remainder of the panel, thereby minimizing the heat-transmitted character of the panel.
As a result, building components that are readily transported and assembled in locations throughout the world can be provided with suitable insulative properties and which will be relatively resistant to weather and degradation, thereby to provide comfortable dwellings and other structures in a diversity of the world""s regions.